Britain’s Katie Boulter suffered a first-round defeat by Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse on the Higher Austria Girls Linz Open.
The 29-year-old went down 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) on clay to world quantity 87 Ruse, who will now face Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska or American Ann Li within the final 16.
Boulter misplaced her first two service video games within the opening set however twice broke earlier than she was edged out in a tie-break.
The British quantity three broke Ruse’s serve for a 3rd time to take an early benefit within the second set however her opponent instantly responded in a see-saw encounter.
Boulter staved off match level at 6-5 all the way down to drive one other tie-break, however Ruse claimed two mini breaks to maneuver 5-2 forward earlier than serving out to seal her win.
World quantity 62 Boulter received the fourth WTA Tour title of her profession on the Ostrava Open in February and reached the final eight on the Merida Open in Mexico.
Nevertheless, she didn’t make it previous the second and third rounds respectively at Indian Wells and the Miami Open previous to this loss.
